Thursday, October 8, 2015

Serving uncertainty: Pass the salt?

The federal government is about to write new nutritional
guidelines aimed at keeping Americans healthy. Whole milk soon may be back in
our good graces, along with eggs and even salt. Unless they’re not.

No wonder people are confused and peeved, if not
angry.

The last thing anyone wants in nutrition rules is
uncertainty. Why waste precious time deciding whether to buy a can of chicken
noodle soup based on its milligrams of sodium if the science now says sodium is
not a big deal? Our knowledge of nutrition
and health is constantly changing.

We’ve been told for decades to substitute low- and
non-fat milk for whole milk to prevent heart disease and other health problems.
It turns out that whole milk may contribute less to heart trouble than the low-fat
foods loaded with refined grains and sugar that we substitute for it.

In other words, cookies and cakes, even the low-fat
variety, are no solution.

Researchers found that people who included more milk
fat in their diets actually suffered lower levels of heart disease than those
who consumed less. And, no, the studies were not paid for by the dairy
industry.

Cholesterol also isn’t the problem we once thought,
so eggs, red meat and shrimp may no longer set off alarm sirens. We eat too
much salt, but it may not be the culprit it seemed. And on top of all that, one
study found that breakfast may not be the most important meal of the day.

Naturally, people are frustrated. It’s tempting to
throw federal Dietary Guidelines out with the skim milk.

“People may be losing confidence in the guidelines,”
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said Wednesday at a House Agriculture Committee
hearing, adding that many of his constituents “don’t believe this stuff
anymore.

"They’re “flat out ignoring this
stuff,” he said.

“Given the public’s skepticism, we should maybe
reconsider why we are doing this,” Peterson said.

We are doing this because Congress in 1990 required
that federal dietary guidelines be issued at least every five years. The
guidelines set policy for everything from school lunches and other federal food
programs to advice to individuals about what to eat to prevent such chronic
conditions as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cancer and
obesity.

Dietary Guidelines 2015 are due to be released by
the end of the year.

An independent advisory committee that is helping
the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture prepare the 2015 guidelines
issued a massive report with several controversial recommendations. During the
public comment period, about 29,000 comments were submitted – vastly more than
five years ago.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and HHS Secretary
Sylvia Burwell said the committee’s report is not a draft of the new rules,
which have not yet been written.

In a blog post this week previewing the new
guidelines, Vilsack and Burwell said the new rules will look a lot like the old.

“Fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains
and lean meats and other proteins and limited amounts of saturated fats, added
sugars and sodium remain the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle,” they
said.

Two recommendations by the advisory committee are definitely
out. There will be no sustainability goals and no tax on sugary soft drinks,
Vilsack and Burwell said. Sustainability refers to the environmental impact of food
production. Meat and other producers that require a lot of water lobbied
heavily against including sustainability in the guidelines. Soft-drink companies
rallied against the tax.

Critics still will complain that the federal
government shouldn’t tell us what to eat. Republicans criticize the “food
police” as vociferously as health advocates complain about subsidies to sugar
and corn. Conservatives want the National Academy
of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board to review the guidelines before they’re
released to the public. That could delay the process.

So, what should you do
if you’re fed up with the government’s changing recommendations about good
nutrition? The most practical advice may be: Get used to it. And, to be on the
safe side, put the salt away.